


Promise Me

by lochness8



Category: Cirque du Freak | The Saga of Darren Shan - Darren Shan
Genre: Angst, Broken Promises, I mean, M/M, Oneshot, Promises, at least we got vancha/larten in it right, oh boy the discords gonna kill me, oh yall gonna hate me for this one, spoilers for book 12, spoilers for book 9
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:35:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26490514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lochness8/pseuds/lochness8
Summary: Vancha March wasn't a man who would make promises he couldn't keep. Or at least, he thought that was true before. || Takes place sometime after book 7, spoilers for 9 and 12 as well. Angst. Oneshot.
Relationships: Larten Crepsley/Vancha March
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Promise Me

**Author's Note:**

> So y'all are gonna wanna kill me for this and all I can say in response is: yeah that's fair.

“Alright you old bat,” Vancha said, sitting down next to the orange-haired vampire, “You’ve been out here brooding long enough, what’s on your mind?”  


Larten hadn’t expected the other to come outside of the cave and join him, he had figured the other would have been resting along with Darren.  _ So much for being left alone with his thoughts. _ Then again, after the news they’d received, maybe that was for the best. 

“It is nothing, Vancha-” Larten didn’t get the chance to finish before the other interrupted him. 

“You can’t lie to me Larten.” Vancha replied, crossing his arms, “For one thing, you’re bad at it. Besides, you always start rubbing that scar of yours when you’re thinking.” 

Larten rolled his eyes, his hand moving away from the scar he hadn’t even realized he’d been stroking. As much as he hated to admit it, Vancha was right. He couldn’t lie to the other, no matter how much he would’ve preferred to avoid this discussion. The vampire sighed, eyes moving to stare down at the ground. 

“You always were able to see right through me,” He said with a slight smile, though that smile quickly faded, “I have just been thinking about what Evanna told us tonight. If only one of us-” 

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Vancha replied, putting his arm over the other’s shoulders, “If we think too deep on it, we’ll only worry ourselves to death before anyone else has the  _ chance  _ to kill us.” 

Larten sighed, wishing he was as unbothered as the other was by the news.  _ Only one of them was going to survive this ordeal. _ The vampire wasn’t worried for his own life, he was prepared to die for this. He’d accepted that as a possibility long before the group had gotten here. He knew Vancha felt the same, especially after the other had outright stated he didn’t  _ want  _ to be the last one left. If he was being honest, neither did he.  _ But he couldn’t help worrying that something was going to happen to Darren.  _

“How is it you are able to remain so unbothered by everything, all of the time?” Larten asked, giving the other a look. 

“Years of practice,” Vancha joked, gently giving the other a shake, before a more serious look appeared on his face, “But really, Larten, I’m just as worried as you are. But there’s no point in dwelling on it. It’s like I said, we’ll cross those bridges as they come, otherwise we’re just going to burn them before we even get there.” 

_ A pause. _

“You are right but….” Larten sighed, his hand moving to stroke his scar yet again, “ _ If anything were to happen to me-” _

_ “Larten-” _ Vancha started, but it was Larten’s turn to interrupt now. 

_ “No, Vancha. Listen to me,”  _ He said firmly, before continuing,  _ “If anything were to happen to me… I need you to promise me you will keep Darren safe.” _

“Is that why you’ve been out here- Larten-”

**_“Promise me, Vancha.”_ **

There’s a heavy silence between the two of them now, one that Vancha isn’t sure how to break. He doesn’t want to think about this. He doesn’t want to dwell on the possibility. Unfortunately for him, that had always been something Larten was best at. And as much as he wanted to tell the other to stop worrying about this, he knew that there was no way he could. The fact that he might lose Larten before Larten lost him was something he’d have to face eventually, as much he didn’t want to. 

_ “I  _ **_need_ ** _ you to keep him safe.” _ Larten said, not looking at him, because he didn’t want the other to see that tired look in his eyes.  _ Those eyes had the look of someone who can’t take another loss. Asking this of the other felt selfish, almost wrong, but he needed this. For his own sake.  
_

Vancha sighed. He didn’t like thinking about the possibility of something happening to Larten, but he knew Evanna wouldn’t lie to them. Two of them were going to die during all this, no matter what happened. And even though some selfish part of him hoped he’d go before Larten did… When he saw that look in the other’s eyes, he knew he couldn’t refuse.

Even before he moves the other’s hand away so he can turn his head to look at him, Vancha knows that look is there. He knows the other far too well for Larten to be able to hide it. He knew the other had lost… far too much. If anything happened to Darren, Larten would never forgive himself, even if he wasn’t around to stop it. That was just the kind of person he was, and Vancha knew that.

_ “I promise.” _

“ _ Thank you.”  _ Larten replied with a small smile. 

The pair sat there for another moment, just staring into each other’s eyes. They could’ve stayed like that forever. But the sun was going to rise soon, and as much as Vancha didn’t mind, he wasn’t about to listen to Larten complain about sunburns if they stayed out too long. Vancha gave the other a kiss, and then finally broke the silence between the two of them. 

“Come on, you old bat,” He grinned, “You need some rest, and so do I.” 

“What, not going to stay up for your daily battle with the sun?” Larten teased, though he got up along with the other, and together the pair went back inside.

_ Neither one of them could've predicted the tragedy that would follow this night.  _

* * *

_ When Vancha feels the sword hit his back, he’s almost certain he’s kept his promise.  _

_ It’s only when he wakes up to the sight of Alice, that he realizes what must have happened.  _

__

_ The feeling of realizing he broke that promise hits him like a ton of bricks. _

_ Larten was dead.  _

__

_ Darren was dead.  _

_ And he was alone, _

_ with nothing but broken promises. _

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure how I feel about how this turned out but we are throwin it up anyways!


End file.
